Site of FDR’s ‘Winter White House’ Near Miami Beach Sells for $10 Million

In Golden Beach, Fla., an oceanfront property with supposed ties to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has sold for $10 million, according to real estate agent Alexander Goldstein of Miles Goldstein Real Estate, who represented the sellers.

FDR is said to have vacationed at the home, known locally as the “Winter White House,” though details about his stay are limited. (His primary vacation home, referred to as the “Little White House,” is located in Warm Springs, Ga.) The house Roosevelt may have visited was torn down and replaced with a Carlos Zapata-designed mansion in 1994.

The sellers, who purchased the property for $12 million in 2014, tore down the Zapata-designed home, which is why it sold at a $2 million loss, Mr. Goldstein said.

The 29,600-square-foot lot has 100 feet of ocean frontage. Like most homes in Golden Beach, it was marketed privately and “moved very quickly,” according to Mr. Goldstein.

The buyer already owns three homes in the community, according to Sue Honowitz of Rusty Stein & Co., who represented him in the deal. The opportunity to buy an oceanfront lot for less than market value prompted him to make an offer, she said.

Golden Beach is situated on the border of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, just north of Sunny Isles Beach. There are only 370 single-family lots in the affluent community, and the town charter forbids the construction of high-rise condominiums. As a result, oceanfront properties are hard to come by.

Meanwhile, a shortage of oceanfront lots and rising land prices in Miami Beach has encouraged luxury developers and wealthy buyers to look farther north, which is pushing up prices in Golden Beach.

“In the last two to three years, there have been multiple sales over $20 million in Golden Beach,” Mr. Goldstein said, noting that oceanfront homes in the area are valued anywhere from $5 million to close to $100 million.

Developer Jacob Abramson of Miami Golden Properties is building four ultra-modern spec homes in Golden Beach, including a 22,000-square-foot oceanfront house with a cascading waterfall. It’s on the market for $36 million.

“The potential I see for this oceanfront is endless,” Mr. Goldstein said.